Among the many reasons they believe their short sale will move quicker two are the most important.

Servicers have 30 days to make a decision once the full short sale package is received. Though an additional 30 days are allowed for time to negotiate with third parties. Well guess what… This policy was already in place for the HAFA program and as part of the mortgage settlement. Read here.? As with any legislation the ability to enforce it needs to be there.

More delegation for servicers. Delegation in short sales is where the servicer (bank you pay every month) can approve a short sale on behalf of the investor or mortgage insurance company without asking. This may actually help.

So how quick could short sales get with Freddie Mac?

It usually takes 2 weeks to 1 month for the servicer to acknowledge receipt of a completed short sale package. Add 30 days for approval then another 30 days because they know they have more time and you’re at 3 months. Another 30 days for escrow and the time from offer acceptance to completed sale is 4 months or so.

I appreciate Freddie Mac putting forth an effort in improving the efficiency of their short sales but I think it will end up being a bust just like the shortened time frames of HAFA and the national mortgage settlement. Think you have some recourse? Good luck getting your state AG office to get a handle on things within a year of your request.